Month: July 2008

After 10 days at Fry Lodge Lake Coeur D’Alene, we’re ready for a change of venue. This afternoon we’ll drive north to Priest Lake, Idaho to stay with the Mike Frys and get ready for the Fry side reunion this weekend. In preparation, Kristine washed a half gallon of huckleberries, which we’ll use for pancakes, pies and other berry delights. And I made my potato salad. In our last day at Carl and Kaye’s place, we were fortunate enough to meet their friends, Claude and Terry Bravmann, who are visiting this week from Whidbey Island. Thank you, mom and dad, for letting us unwind at Fry Lodge – Lake CDA. It’s been a wonderful vacation so far.

Yesterday afternoon we packed up the pontoon boat and headed out for another beautiful day on the water. It was a bit busier than it has been, since it’s the weekend (much to my confusion until Tim was able to convince me that it was indeed Saturday by showing me the date on the morning paper). It’s a sure sign of a good vacation when you can’t even remember what day of the week it is. And we still have one week left!

I’m including a map of the lake, since I didn’t grow up here and keep getting turned around. For Saturday’s journey, we headed about 7 miles south from Rockford Bay (as the salmon swims) to the town of Harrison. Harrison started as a mining town, but now that the mining’s gone it’s more of a folksy and approachable small town stop for local tourists who arrive by boat, motorcycle, RV and bicycle along the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes (more about that later). Before this trip I’d only been to the Harrison gas dock for gas and beer before trips down the river. So I was surprised to find such a charming little town in North Idaho. Harrison is a destination frequented by local families, and has a great small town charm to it.

The beach was overrun with tanned, screaming children. There was a great country band playing in the park, where locals had set up picnic tables covered with crockpots for some kind of potluck and a stand selling locally made beef jerky. They even had bouncy castles for the kids.

We’re entertaining the idea of moving to Harrison permanently and buying One Shot Charlie’s (it’s for sale!) We had lunch at the adjoining cafe, where we ate a taco pizza to rival the one I used to get at Godfather’s Pizza growing up. We had to get a picture in front of the bar, that somehow towed the line between biker dive bar and family restaurant. Only in NFI! Henry’s charm spans across all social and political boundaries, so naturally he flirted with the biker chicks smoking on the deck and they let him ride their Harleys. You can see the progression of events in this series of photos.

Eager for even more of the North Idaho experience, and since they can huckleberry anything in the Idaho panhandle, I demanded huckleberry ice cream. And Henry demanded a picture with the bear so he could practice his favourite animal sound – "ROAR!" With our bellies full and Henry’s legs sufficiently stretched, we headed back onto the boat.

Since Henry fell almost immediately asleep, we continued heading south for a brief cruise of the St Joe River. We enjoyed the scenery, spotted dozens of Osprey nests, and checked out the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes where it crosses the river.

The Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes is a bike trail that covers over old railroad tracks and spans the entire distance of the Idaho panhandle (72 miles) from Washington to Montana. Tim would love for someone to bike this trail with him, and I’m not up for it. So anyone interested, let him know. http://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/parks/trailofthecoeurdalenes.aspx

Now, we of course knew we had a cute baby in Henry. We’re reminded of that everyday when complete strangers stop us on the street to comment on how beautiful he is. In the back of our minds we’ve been hoping that this won’t go to his head. Well, it now appears unavoidable, now that … HENRY HAS WON A BEAUTY CONTEST!

Yes, it’s true. Grandma Fry, unbeknownst to me, entered one of Henry’s photos in the Spokesman Review’s annual cutest baby contest. She got a call on Friday that Henry has won first prize in the toddler category and will be featured in a special supplement to the paper this Sunday, July 27. Whoa. First he’s featured in the Nordstrom Halloween costume catalogue, and now this!

The Fry Family Trio has really settled into vacation mode. After a day of appointments in Spokane on Wednesday, we got ready for some solitary confinement at Fry Lodge – Lake Coeur d’Alene while my parents went off on a mini vacation of their own.

We’ve spent the week lounging by the pool, taking naps and going on a few boat rides to the city of Coeur d’Alene, a 25-minute drive as the salmon swims. We plan to head to Priest Lake, Idaho (about 70 miles north of here) on Tuesday, but not before we do some more relaxing and work on our boss tans.

We’re a little late in broadcasting this news to the Fry Lodge Online faithful. Last Monday (July 14) Kristine had an ultrasound to determine the sex of the baby we’re expecting in December. If you can’t tell by the photo below, it’s a girl! Henry’s very excited to have a little sister. Kristine and I are seeing pink. Code name suggestions are welcome, so please comment.

I can’t think of a better way to cap off NFI than to get a phone call from my sister-in-law that she’s just gotten engaged. Katie and Patrick stopped by the Bowl and Pitcher on the Spokane River on their way home from Coeur d’Alene on Sunday. While there, Patrick popped the question. Katie said, "yes." Congratulations, Katie and Patrick! Word has it that the wedding will be sometime in the fall of 2009 in Omaha.